I am a restaurant guy and I do events where I get paid to twist. However, my wife does face painting at fairs and festivals. When work a venue like this/ busking, do you charge by balloon sculpture or work for tips? What is the best way to work if you are not getting paid to twist. I'm sure this has been discussed but could not find the thread.

I do lots of balloon work, when I work at a busking venue I always work for tips. The hard part is to get them to start tipping. Once they see that the person ahead of them has tipped then the flood gates open and the tips start pouring in. The way I managed to overcome this is, I work with a balloon bag that I have near me, I start out by having a few loose dollars sitting on top of my balloons, they see the $$ then just asume that tipping is ok. Hope this works for you.

Fairs and festivals all depend on the arrangement made with the organizers and there is valid points for both arguments (charging vs. tips). If you do work for tips and are in a stationary spot I would recommend a sign saying what the average gratuity is.

With out going into a rant about vending balloons. If you are good enough to get paid, do so. If they won't pay you, see if you can twist in exchange for the rent on your wife's fp booth. (there was a time when face painters got paid to be at events, not the other way around.)
I don't care for tip buttons but they do work. this is not that far off from working a restaurant, only you are out side.

I too have a similar situation my wife has a booth at fairs and markets. I ended up charging fixed rates, i.e. vending. I have balloons from $1.00 up to $5.00 seems to work better for me. The markets don't charge me booth fees as my wife already paid for hers. We just work out of the same booth area.

Either way can work. I used to charge $1 per balloon used at a flea market every weekend for about a year. I was always busy! Always had a line, so I don't think charging will slow business down. Oftentimes, there are other balloon twisters and face painters at the same festival, so you might try and find out what they are doing. If they are just working for tips, they'd probably get more business, not necessarily more money though. If you work for tips, have a labeled tip box to make it obvious.

Thanks everyone. I love the idea about twisting in exchange for my wifes booth space and putting out a tip jar.